Archive for the 'Nhl Awards' Tag Under 'Ducks' Category

A new Stanley Cup champion in 2012 will mean that a new hero will be bestowed with the coveted Conn Smythe Trophy that is awarded to the most valuable player of the NHL playoffs.

Those that have received the trophy instantly become part of hockey lore. Montreal captain Jean Beliveau was the first honoree in 1965 and legends such as Bobby Orr, Guy Lafleur, Mike Bossy, Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Steve Yzerman are among those that have been honored.

The NHL postseason is now into the conference semifinals. Click on a photo to take a look at some possible contenders for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The winners since the 2004-05 lockout have been Cam Ward, Scott Niedermayer, Henrik Zetterberg, Evgeni Malkin, Jonathan Toews and Tim Thomas. Patrick Roy is the only three-time winner (1986, 1993, 2001) while Mario Lemieux is the last to be honored twice (1991 and 1992).

Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who won the Conn Smythe while with the Mighty Ducks in 2003, is the last of five players that have been awarded the trophy while playing for a team that did not win the Cup.

For the third consecutive year, there will be first-time Hart Memorial Trophy recipient as the NHL's most valuable player.

Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin, Tampa Bay star Steven Stamkos and New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist were announced as the three finalists for the award that will be handed out June 20 at the league's awards show in Las Vegas.

Malkin is a finalist for the third time after winning his second Art Ross Trophy in leading the NHL with 109 points. He also notched his first 50-goal season and helped the Penguins gain 108 points and earn the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference despite being without superstar Sidney Crosby for most of the season.

Stamkos became the first center to score 60 goals in a season since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96 and he joins Alex Ovechkin as the only players to have reached that total since Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr in that same '95-96 season.

Lundqvist was selected over Philadelphia's Claude Giroux according to the voting done by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Assn. Also a Vezina Trophy finalist, Lundqvist recorded a career-high 39 wins and had eight shutouts while his goals-against average (1.97) and save percentage (.930) are career lows.

Perhaps the only surprise about the three Norris Trophy finalists is that Nicklas Lidstrom isn't one of them.

Lidstrom won't win the award given to the NHL's top defenseman for an eighth time but Boston's Zdeno Chara could get his second or the first one could be given to either Nashville's Shea Weber or Ottawa's Erik Karlsson.

Weber has been seen as the favorite to win after scoring 19 goals to tie with Karlsson for the lead among defensemen while also scoring 49 points and compiling a plus-21 rating that is the best of his seven-year career. He also helped Nashville finish with the league's best power play.

Karlsson was an offensive-minded dynamo whose 78 points outpaced the next highest scoring defender by 25 as he finished in a tie for 10th in points overall. He also averaged over 25 minutes per game, although he didn't play nearly as much in penalty-killing situations as Weber or Chara.

Chara had 12 goals and 40 assists and his plus-33 rating led all blue-liners and ranked third in the NHL behind Boston teammates Patrice Bergeron and Tyler Seguin. His 40 assists and 52 points are career highs.

Many have strongly suggested that the Kings wouldn't have made the Stanley Cup playoffs without the play of Jonathan Quick in goal this season. Some have even gone as far as to consider him a Hart Trophy candidate.

So then it is absolutely no surprise that Quick was selected as one of the three finalists for the Vezina Trophy awarded to the NHL's top goalie based on voting done by the league's 30 general managers.

It is almost funny to think that the start of the 2010-11 season saw Quick having to beat out current backup Jonathan Bernier, whom many pegged to be the Kings' true goalie of the future. Instead, the native of Milford, Conn. has only worked to become one of the NHL's very best at his position.

The 26-year-old netminder led the league with 10 shutouts and was second with a 1.95 goals-against average. Quick was also fifth with a .929 save percentage and fifth with 35 wins despite playing for one of the worst offensive teams during the regular season.

The actual NHL individual awards for the 2011-12 season won't be revealed until late June at the league's annual televised gala in Las Vegas.

But the finalists for those awards are now being released and the top three selections for the Calder Trophy as the rookie of the year are no surprise at all according to voting by the members of the Professional Hockey Writers Assn.

It will either be New Jersey center Adam Henrique, Colorado winger Gabriel Landeskog or Edmonton center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

The three were the top scorers among a strong rookie crop that also included Philadelphia's Matt Read, Buffalo's Cody Hodgson, Carolina's Justin Faulk, Ottawa's Colin Greening, the Kings' Slava Voynov and the New York Rangers' Carl Hagelin.

Landeskog, the No. 2 pick in the 2011 draft, played in all 82 games and had 22 goals and 30 assists for the Avalanche while displaying a willingness to play physical in quickly emerging as a leader.

Video game giant EA Sports is preparing to launch NHL 13 -- the latest installment of its popular series for gamers and hockey fans -- and it is taking a new path toward determining who will grace the cover.

For the first time, fans from around the globe will be able to determine who the player will be through three stages of voting that will take place before the cover athlete is revealed on June 20 at the NHL's season-ending awards event in Las Vegas.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller earned some recognition from the NHL on Monday as he was named one of the league's three stars for the week of Feb. 13-19.

Hiller was selected as the first star by going 3-0-1 in the Ducks' four games, stopping 98 of 102 shots over that span for a .961 save percentage while recording a 0.98 goals-against average. The impressive week included Sunday night's 2-0 win over Florida in which he stopped 31 shots for his 14th career shutout and third this season.

Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau has been campaigning for his netminder, who is 13-2-4 with a 1.73 goals-against average over his last 20 games.

No awards are given out in the middle of the season. So we're not doing it.

It is a nice stopping point to look at who has forged a strong body of work over the first half but in reality it will be the kind of play over a full schedule that will be judged when it comes to handing out trophies to those who shall deserve it.

Now that we're at the All-Star break, the Register thinks it is a good time to not only look back and see who has been exceptional in the 2011-12 National Hockey League season to this point but forecast who could earn trips to Las Vegas for the league's awards show in June.

It was certainly a momentous occasion for a certain Ducks player last summer. It is time to look at who we think will bring home the hardware for the NHL's most coveted individual awards.

ANAHEIM -- Gary Bettman was in attendance for Wednesday night's contest between the Ducks and Phoenix Coyotes at Honda Center and the longtime NHL commissioner addressed a number of different topics with a small group of local and national reporters.

Bettman did touch on other pressing issues like realignment, collective bargaining and player safety. Here are some bullet points from the 15-minute conversation:

On the Phoenix Coyotes ownership situation:

"We're still working on it. Our hope is that we can bring it to a conclusion in the not-too-distant future. Nothing imminent. But it's still being worked on. It's still a work in progress. There's no significant development.